In Red Wings Land

By the Numbers Prospects: Michael Rasmussen – Redwings.com

“I think one with Ras, he got off to a really good start for us. Obviously playing center, we got him into his more natural position. He looked good there. I think one thing that was pleasant for me to see with Ras is defensively. I hadn’t really seen him play all that much center because we drafted him and he got hurt, the first season we drafted him back in juniors, at Tri-City he got hurt in the first half and then when he came back after Christmas, he moved to the wing and played the majority of the second half on the wing and obviously in Detroit he played all wing last year. So I hadn’t seen that much, I wasn’t that familiar with his overall game as a centerman but I was pleasantly surprised this year. I think one thing is he was really, really good defensively and he should be.

That’s not even half of what Shawn Horcoff had to say about Rasmussen, but it does sound like they’re very much trying to develop him as a future re-attempt at a Riley Sheahan that can actually consistently do the job they hoped Riley Sheahan could.  Say what you will about using a 9th overall pick for that position. Bottom line is the kid is in our development system and we can’t go back and un-do the pick.

Around the NHL

Lafreniere the surest thing in a most uncertain draft year – TSN

“That is a lot of important, high-pressure hockey to be missed,” one NHL scout said. “It leaves a pretty big hole in terms of what a normal evaluation on a player would be. What will that mean? I have no idea.”

“Playoff hockey is the best hockey for top prospects to reinforce their high-end status, but it’s also the best hockey to expose weaknesses you might not see in the regular season,” another scout said. “It’s also a time when lesser prospects can really shine and make a big move [up].”

Drafting kids based on best-guesses about where they’ll grow into after relatively small sample-sizes is already tough, but now it’ll be even MORE guessing. It’s a fun new world as Bobby Mack runs down the candidates.  There’s a kid named Jake Neighbours on that list and while he’s not going in the top ten, I want to know which team picks him just for the State Farm sponsorship.

Also, one for the fellow CBA nerds:

We’ve heard that the NHL and NHLPA have come to a tentative agreement on extending player contracts and work permits for players whose contracts were set to expire on June 30.

We expect that the contracts will be extended to a date in late October or early November.

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 22, 2020

This is fun because players already don’t get paid for the playoffs, but yeah everybody who was on a UFA or RFA deal was essentially all set to play without ANY contract because, if they do expire, they all do so on the 30th of June.